Look, I don’t know much about this Fan Club thing, but Ian explained that I was the only person that he could really trust to tell you what’s going on with the group. Now it is a bit embarrassing to have to start with an apology, but I know everyone has got very impatient waiting for their badges and things, but it has taken me a little while to get round to writing this first journal. It has been rumoured that I locked myself in a room to do some painting, but this is not strictly true. I did lock myself in a room, but it was all something to do with Ian asking me to be a Best Man at his wedding, but then that’s another story.

Now let me give you a run down on what the Tull’s have been up to recently. I hope you were able to see them on their tour in October – I’m afraid there were a lot of disappointed people because it was a complete sell-out tour – and many of the halls told us there were so many people who couldn’t get tickets that they could have filled a second house. The group were really thrilled by the audiences who were extremely enthusiastic and who basically still came to listen, which was very pleasing. The Irish bubbled over a bit in Dublin, and the audience invaded the stage at the end of the concert, which made it a bit difficult for the group to get off, and in the process, Ian’s trousers got ripped off and he lost his flute, but he got it back a few weeks later, so it was O.K.

Everyone who was at the Albert Hall, will remember some cameramen on stage. This was a German film crew, doing a documentary on JETHRO for German T.V. They were with the group for about a week. This was shown in Germany in November, and we think it is being shown in Holland and Belgium about now; may be, let’s hope, the English television people might decide to use it.

Between the dates of the English tour, the group went to the Continent and did some fantastic concerts in Holland, Belgium and at the Paris Olympia. At the end of the tour, the group did TOP OF THE POPS for “Sweet Dream”, and then the next day went to Paris to do a television show, and then had their first 9 day holiday since the group was formed, two years ago. Ian fulfilled a life long ambition and went trotting round Scotland for a week, Martin went home to Hereford, Glenn started looking for a house, and Clive spent the time trying to make his recently acquired second-hand Mini-Cooper look like a new one. Immediately after their holiday, they went off to the States for a month, and then we have to depend on bits and pieces from them, for news of what happened there.

At the first date, in New Jersey, a girl rushed to the stage and informed Ian that he had “dynamite legs”, and she wrapped herself around him, and had to be dragged off. At Hartford, Connecticut, the group renewed their acquaintance with Roland Kirk who they have played with a few times before. At Santa Monica, Los Angeles, where they were doing a concert, all the seats were sold-out very quickly, so the promoters added a second show at midnight which also sold-out. This is the first time a group has sold-out two shows there, since the Cream, 18 months ago. At Fillmore East, New York, all four shows were sold-out before-hand. For the last 10 days of the tour, they had Nick Logan of the New Musical Express with them, which apparently was a lot of fun, and you may have read his articles in the New Musical Express about this. You were probably as surprised as I was to get a really vivid account of just how exhausting touring can be. They always say that it is pretty tiring, but I have never believed them until now.

The group came back to England and after one day, went into the studio to record THE WITCH’S PROMISE & TEACHER. Then as a big treat they all took Christmas off and went home. The whole of last Christmas, including Christmas day and Boxing day, they spent rehearsing with Martin, who had just come into the band.

The whole of January has been spent rehearsing and recording the new L.P., interspersed with the normal interviews.

The new L.P. by the way is tentatively titled “BENEFIT” and will be out sometime in March. Actually now that I remember, they did spend a week during January in Scandinavia where they played concerts in Helsinki, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Lund, Odensee and Copenhagen.

On the 13th February they go to Hollywood to film a television Special directed by Jack Good, who some people may remember produced pop programmes in England a long time ago. (He did the Beatles Television Special “Around the Beatles”). I’ll try to give you more details about the television programme in the next Journal, although I do know that it is supposed to come out in America on the 14th March. It is going to be very important to them in America, and of course, we hope it will be shown here sometime. They are just in Hollywood for 3 days and then fly direct to Germany to film Beat Club for German television and then do two concerts in Frankfurt, which are already completely sold out.

The group are going to spend a month recording and rehearsing before going to America on the 20th March for a new tour.

The last album “STAND UP” has been incredibly successful in England, it went to Number 1 in the L.P. charts in its first week of release and stayed there for 2 months, and has been Number 1 in almost every country in Europe, in fact, in Sweden it was in the Top 10 singles chart. BOUREE which was on the album, was released in France, Belgium and Holland as a single and was in the Top 10 in all 3 countries.

STAND UP got to Number 14 in America. This spent 6 months there last year and everything was incredibly successful, and the group is poised just about to become really big there, and we are hoping for a high placing with the next album “BENEFIT” although the group will have to spend a lot of time there to promote it. They really feel that it is important that they should build up their following in America.

In England, the group really want to make more appearances on television because that is the best way to be seen by as many people as possible. As far as live performances are concerned, they are a little bit worried that only a limited number of people can see them when they do concerts, and also they feel a big responsibility to do something specially for their English fans but they are working on lots of different ideas, and I hope to be able to bring you more news of this in my next Journal.

Well, I hope I have told you enough to make up for my slowness in getting this together. I can’t tell you what trouble I have been given by the boys in the band about it, but I promise the next Journal will be on time, or my life won’t be worth living. I have also been asked to say that we would welcome any enquiries for information about the group, and I will put it into the next Journal.

Bye for now, see you in three months.

Jeffrey

[Note: Jeffrey Hammond has no memory of having written this Journal: someone at the publicity department of Chrysalis Records must have put it together without his knowledge].